Redefining Big Brother, page 1

Government agencies, including Police forces have been aquiring personal information through the use of data brokers, that would require a subponea or warrant otherwise. These "brokers" can obtain such information as phone records and credit card billing information. These "brokers" openly admit that how they obtain their information is sometimes against the law. There is no way of telling how widespread the use of these "brokers" is because many of them do not charge law enforcement agencies for the information. In addition to government agencies many private corporations use the information provided by these "brokers".

www.cnn.com
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal and local police across the country -- as well as some of the nation's best-known companies -- have been gathering Americans' phone records from private data brokers without subpoenas or warrants.

These brokers, many of whom market aggressively across the Internet, have broken into customer accounts online, tricked phone companies into revealing information and sometimes acknowledged that their practices violate laws, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Legal experts and privacy advocates said police reliance on private vendors who commit such acts raises civil liberties questions.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Lately there has been an uproar over the NSA collecting phone record information on American citizens, yet you have heard nothing about these "information brokers". To me these "brokers" are a larger threat and more dangerous than the NSA ever will be. At least the NSA has some Congressional oversight, these "brokers" are unregulated and in many cases obtain their information illegaly. Have you ever been turned down for a job or denied credit? Companies that make descisions affecting our daily lives are customers of these "brokers". Many times you are unaware of the use of this information against you and have no recourse if the information provided is inaccurate. Recently I had to obtain a copy of my driving record from the State of Florida. I had to do it through a PRIVATE COMPANY! The State had contracted this company to manage the records for it's Department of Motor Vehicles.